Living in Austin, TX, I am always surrounded by eco friendly products and practices. We have bag laws, multiple trash bins, and most restaurants in town have moved from plastic to plant pulp to-go containers. I remember the adjustment to the no grocery bag thing when I moved here. I was so used to just being handed plastic or paper bags at the grocery store, that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the thought of bringing my own bag. Here, if you don’t bring your own bag to the grocery store, you are charged 10 cents for a heavy duty plastic bag (recyclable of course). Let’s just say, this hard learned lesson really changed the way I do things.
I always have at least one reusable bag in the back of my car, along with plastic totes for carrying heavier groceries or large items like kitty litter! I almost never forget my bags anymore, and don’t use the produce bags in the produce department unless I absolutely have to (beets). If you really think about how much I have impacted the plastic bags in landfills just in my four years of living here, its crazy to think what could change if we all picked up these habits!
I go to the grocery at least once or twice a week and get at least 3 or 4 bags of groceries every time I go! Let’s calculate. For ease of calculation, let’s say I get 8 bags of groceries every week. 8 bags a week at 52 weeks a year = 416 bags!! Now, if you figure in how many plastic bags I would use if I put all of my produce in plastic produce bags, that number would be INSANE!
So, what does zero waste living mean exactly? It means that almost nothing that you dispose of ends up in the landfill! This means, recycling any plastic you acquire, composting food and yard scraps, and using lots of reusable glass, metal, fabric, and even plastic items! This all sounds VERY overwhelming, but, its actually easier than you’d think!
I’m not even close to zero waste living, BUT, I’m working on it! I have a goal to try to be zero waste at work for starters! I will bring my own lunch in reusable totes and containers, bring my own utensils, and try to eliminate my use of plastic water bottles. Here are some item’s to create your own zero waste kit for work:
So what do you think?? Do you think you could make the shift? I’ll keep you posted on how this goes, but hey, its a start! Let’s see what we can do to help our planet!
Meggie Farmer 